Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in Wyoming
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,861
after federal, FICA and Wyoming tax
Tax takes
$5,079
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,071
Wyoming costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wyoming — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$36,940
Kept after tax
$31,861
Worth in national money
$35,071
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wyoming pays this job around $36,940 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 433 occupations Wyoming publishes, this job lands at 382. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Wyoming does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,940 you keep $31,861, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,071 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,620, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For cooks, institution and cafeteria the Wyoming median is $36,940, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Wyoming, this work ranks 382 of 433 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Wyoming income tax, retained pay for cooks, institution and cafeteria on $36,940 is $31,861. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,071 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $37,620 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,830 |
| This salary | $36,940 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Wyoming | $31,861 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,861 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,283 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $36,940 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,762 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wyoming earn less than $36,940. The published range is $29,130 up to $47,830, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wyoming's $31,861, worked from $36,940. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 382 of 433.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wyoming, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,071, the adjusted value of that $36,940 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 382 of 433 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cooks, institution and cafeteria in Wyoming the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,130 to $47,830. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wyoming take-home of $31,861, on $36,940 for work ranking 382 of 433 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 382 of 433 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wyoming, so $35,071 — the adjusted value of that $36,940 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 382 of 433 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,130 at the bottom tenth to $47,830 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wyoming is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $35,071 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $31,861 of this wage reaches your account, because Wyoming takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,130 to $47,830) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wyoming rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wyoming's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $35,071 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Wyoming levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,861 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.